A modern hunting crossbow of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,740 utilizes a bolt raised above the upper surface of its stock supported by a latch mechanism at the rear end of the stock and a simple gravity rest at the forward end of the stock to keep the bolt in ready-firing position prior to firing (release). Once the weapon is cocked (string pulled back and latched in said mechanism) the bolt is knocked to the string and thereby firmly secured at its trailing end. At its leading end, however, the bolt lays nestled in a shallowly notched rest, also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,740, held tenuously in place by gravity, until firing. Under controlled conditions such as when the hunter is sighting in his weapon, this arrangement is sufficient. Under normal hunting conditions, when a hunter is maneuvering for a shot from either a ground or tree stand, this arrangement is woefully inadequate and potentially unsafe because of the bolt's tendency to fall noisily off its rest with the slightest movement. Should this occur at the moment of firing, game may be frightened away and/or the bolt may consequently be released in an undesirable direction.
Efforts to develop means to releaseably retain a bolt on its rest in ready-firing position until release from a crossbow of this type are evidenced in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,722,318 and 4,860,719.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,318 a spring-tensioned resilient tang is lowered into position atop the leading end of the bolt, just behind the bolt's tip, sandwiching the bolt between it and the bolt rest beneath to hold the bolt in place on its rest.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,719 a magnet is cradled at the forward end of a crossbow stock beneath the metal tip of the bolt, a position from which it exerts force on the metallic bolt tip, pulling it downward to hold the bolt in place on its rest.
These patents and other activity in this area evidence the importance to a crossbow hunter of keeping the bolt quietly in place on its rest with the crossbow in a cocked configuration ready for firing through a wide range of movement normally encountered by the hunter short of jarring the crossbow.